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All it takes is 3 weeks

Since it’s almost the new year, and weight loss is just about everyone’s resolution, I figure it’s time to share the magic secret to losing weight.

And all it takes is dedication for 21 days.

Calories.
It’s science, calories in vs. calories out. It’s proven, it’s a fact, and if you count your calories you will lose weight.

(there are some very rare instances where you won’t)

I read somewhere that it takes 21 days to make or break a habit, and it worked for me.

Count your calories like your life depends on it for 21 days, that is the hardest part.
The first 3 weeks is hard, but once you’re past that it’s a piece of cake.

Speaking of cake, you can eat cake!

I have tried so many fad diets before and they have all failed me. It’s ridiculous to think I’ll never eat cake again. Or pasta. A few months before I started counting my calories my mother told me the trick to losing weight is to stop eating pasta and bread. Bread and pasta can be high in calories, but that doesn’t mean you can’t eat it! Cutting out everything you love about food is setting yourself up for failure.

April 2014 I weighed my self for the first time in a long time and found out that i weighed 214 lbs. That number really hurt to see. Christmas day 2012 I weighed 212 lbs, and I was also 40 weeks pregnant. How could a year and a half after giving birth could I possibly weigh more than I did when I was 9 months pregnant.

That was my motivation.
I’ve lost 55 lbs, and now I’m at a healthy weight.

Here are my tips for your weight loss success:

Dedicate 21 days to start. No cheat days, no slack off days. Dedicate 3 weeks to really stick with it.
Take the worst before pictures you can. It really helped me on days I thought nothing had changed to look at how far I had come. And you can also take your measurements.

Figure how many calories you need to be eating. A good starting point is to get your BMR (which is basically how many calories it takes to maintain your current weight if you laid in bed all day). Once you know that number, let’s say 2,000 , eat less than that. 500 calories less than your BMR is the standard calorie deficit. Men do not eat less than 1,500 calories. and ladies DO NOT EAT LESS THAN 1,200 calories. I’ve seen so many horror stories of women eating less than 1,200 and their hair falling out, and other bad bad things happening to their body. Do. Not. Do. It.

Count. Pick how you want to count your calories. You could just write them down in a notebook I used myfitnesspal until i reached my goal. I like myfitnesspal because you can scan barcodes on food, and it will tell you how much you will weigh in 5 weeks if you keep doing what you’re doing.

Don’t cheat yourself. If it goes in your mouth you need to count it. Cheating on your counting is only cheating yourself of the results you deserve. Count everything you eat, and count it accurately.

Cheat days. Once you’re past the 21 days you can cheat. On cheat days don’t eat more than your BMR.
You can eat what you want as long as it’s within your daily calories. You’ll learn as you go, and it becomes very easy. It is hard at first. If you stick with it you will lose weight.

You can do it! You can stick with it! Then you can pass this along to your friends and help them.

BTW, I’m not a doctor nor nutritionist. I’m a regular human who was tired of being over weight.

You are a very inspirational lady! 🙂 and some really good tips there for weight loss! I love cheat days but you’re right saying that they should be done after the 3 weeks, otherwise it will be a lot harder in the long run..

Great advice and thank you for sharing your pics, you are very brave! I count calories, and when my weight loss slowed and seemed to plateau after five months, I also took up short burst exercise during a daily routine task – ten push-ups while boiling the kettle to make a cup of tea. It’s amazing how those push-ups add up if you have five or more cups of tea a day (I work from home 90% of the time, so it’s at least that many!)… and then found after a while that ten were over too quickly so occasionally would do 20, or add ten ab crunches. Would recommend it to anyone. Only came up with it because I’m an impatient fidget when it comes to waiting for my kettle to boil 🙂 x